1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wire feed welders generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a novel, highly portable electric arc field welder that can be selectively operated on either direct or alternating current.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,954, issued Apr. 2, 1985, to Kroll, describes a AC/DC welder which includes a voltage control that receives whatever AC or DC voltage is used for welding and produces therefrom a low voltage DC current which is used, in part, for powering welder controls and a wire feed mechanism, the object being to eliminate the usual 115-VAC line to the wire feed mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,357, issued May 20, 1986, to Winkler, describes a vehicular arc welder which receives its power from the vehicle's battery charger. The output of the charger is fed to a battery charger which is connected to charge a set of batteries. When welding is being performed, current is drawn from both the batteries and the battery charger. When welding is not being performed, the output of the charger charges the batteries. A range of welding voltages is available.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,934, issued Nov. 10, 1987, to Winkler, describes a vehicular arc welder similar in pertinent respects to the '357 patent above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,780, issued Jan. 31, 1989, to Hayes, describes an MIG welder attachment for a conventional 115-VAC variable-speed electric drill. The attachment employs a 24-VDC source for welding current.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,208, issued Feb. 4, 1992, to Habermann, describes a hand held portable arc welder which is powered entirely by storage batteries.
Most welding operations must be conducted in an area, such as a garage, where a convenient power source is readily available. Those welding machines which are, however, capable of operation on portable DC power sources, such as batteries, are limited in that they can only weld objects of relatively small thicknesses.
A need therefore exists for a highly portable electric arc field welder that is simple and that can selectively operate on either AC or DC current.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an electric arc field welder that is highly portable.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a welder that is simple in construction.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such a welder that can be selectively operated on either AC or DC current.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a welder that is economically constructed.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.